Collateral Damage (Stone Barrington 25)

Habib was knocking down garbage cans and scattering pedestrians.

“I’m going to blow it!” Jasmine yelled.

“Not yet! You’ll kill us, too!” He made it to Second Avenue and turned right.

—

Holly and Viv were running as hard as they could toward the car when it turned onto Second Avenue and started to move faster. Then, suddenly, the car stopped, as did all the traffic on Second Avenue. She looked down the street and saw red traffic lights as far as the eye could see. “We’ve got to kill both those people now!” she yelled at Viv. They both stopped running. “I’ll take the driver!” Holly raised her weapon and fired two shots. The rear window of the Toyota turned white, and she started running toward the driver’s door, her weapon held ready in front of her.

Viv ran for the passenger door, and when she was ten yards away, it opened and a woman rolled out of the car and into the street, ending up on one knee, her hands out, holding a silenced pistol. Viv heard a little whir, and her hair blew back on her left side. She didn’t bother aiming, just started firing, aiming at the center of the woman. She knew she had hit her at least once, but the woman didn’t fall. Instead, with her free hand, she flipped open a cell phone and with a thumb, pressed a button.

“NOOO!” Viv yelled, then emptied her magazine into the crouching figure. Viv hit the street and waited for the explosion.

Nothing happened. Viv lifted her head and looked at the woman she had just shot several times. She was smiling. Viv reached over, grabbed the silencer, and pulled the weapon from her grasp.

Jasmine was trying to say something. Viv leaned closer and listened. “They will all die,” Jasmine whispered.

Viv picked up the cell phone lying near her hand and looked at it. The word “CALLING” was on the screen, then it changed to “CALL FAILED.” She held the phone in front of Jasmine’s face. “Not today, sweetheart,” she said. “Just you.”

Jasmine frowned, then her face relaxed and her pupils dilated.

“The driver is dead,” Holly said from behind her.

Viv placed two fingers on the left side of Jasmine’s throat and felt for a pulse. “So is this one,” she said.

Holly was on the phone.

—

Stone stared at Dino. “What is that thing with the green light?” he asked.

“A couple of weeks ago, Viv and I went to the theater, and there were cell phones ringing all around us, all through the first act. I saw that thing in a catalogue and ordered it. It creates a dead zone big enough to fill a room.”

“It must work, then,” Stone said. Then, as he watched, the green light went out.

Dino picked up the little box, opened the battery compartment, and fiddled with the single AA battery. The light came back on.

The sound of sirens and whoopers filled the air, and suddenly the street was full of flashing lights and men in body armor. Dino held his badge high, so they could see it. “On the job, guys!” he yelled. “Get me a bomb guy over here.”

A moment later, a man in really big armor and a helmet with a plastic shield over his face appeared. “What have we got here?”

“Very large bomb,” Dino said, pointing into the van.

“Holy shit!” the man said.

“That little box with the green light made a dead zone in the car, but you’d better get that thing disconnected before it blows. It’s probably booby-trapped.”

“Get the hell out of here, both of you,” the man said, and Stone and Dino retreated into the house and sat down in Joan’s office. “Where are the girls?” Stone asked.

“They took off after a white car,” Dino said, producing his cell phone and pressing a speed dial button. He turned on the speaker. The call failed.

“It’s your black box,” Stone said.

Dino kept trying.

“Yeah?” Viv said.

“It’s Dino. Where are you and Holly?”